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The great thing about London hotels is the variety: there are as many modern temples to high-design as Miss Marple B&Bs, as many to-the-point business hotels as discreet butler-serviced palaces. The bad thing about London hotels is the price.

At about the same time last year that a poll announced London was no longer the most expensive city in the world (I think Caracas had sneaked ahead), hotel rates - especially in the luxury sector - were astonishingly low. You could get a bed in certain four- and five-star properties for less than at nearby run-of-the-mill chains.

It didn’t last. Occupancy rates have remained pretty high, which means that bargains still aren’t easy to find unless you know where to look and what to look for.

If you aren’t able to book months in advance, the widely quoted average rates for a double of around £120 are pretty accurate. B&Bs can often be cheaper, but with few rooms on offer late availability becomes a headache. If you do get a room in London for less than £100 a night, don't expect it to be perfect - follow my recommendations, though, and it should at least be comfortable.

Things to consider before booking

Location
Stay as close as you can to where you want to spend most of your time while you're here. Public transport is better than you'd think from listening to the grumbling of the locals (although beware ongoing weekend line closures), but if you get a £50 a night B&B out in the sticks you'll be spending an hour or more each day of your holiday travelling in and out of town.Bloomsbury (for the British Museum) and Earl's Court(not far from the South Kensington museums) are still good hunting grounds for cheaper B&Bs and small hotels.

Parking, extras and VAT
Few central hotels have parking facilities. Those that do always charge. Usually a lot. And don’t assume that facilities are free, especially at the luxury end. Internet usage and breakfast are very often not included in the room price - which can be a nasty shock if you’re stretching the budget for a special treat! Business hotels usually quote prices exclusive of VAT (currently 17.5%), since their weekday clientele prefer it that way. Leisure customers should watch out for the extra hidden cost.

Lifts and small rooms
The majority of London’s hotels are in adapted townhouses. You can’t assume there’s a liftand rooms are generally on the small side, especially in comparison to the United States. Rooms on the ground-floor or first-floor usually have higher ceilings, because the upper floors used to be where the servants lived, so grab one of these to make the most of whatever space is available. Otherwise, opt for a new-build... they might not feel so atmospheric, but most are designed so that every room is identical in size and facilities, and lifts come as standard.

There are several thousand hotels in London. Some of them are cheaper than the ones I've recommended. Some have bigger reputations. Have I visited every hotel in London? No. But in the course of researching more than a dozen London guides I have visited a lot of them - and I continue to visit and revisit every year.

So why these? I’ve tried to recommend hotels that I not only think are good, but are also likely to have vacancies: if somewhere's cheap and good, there's never going to be any late availability. I've also done my best to recommend a decent spread of hotels geographically and in terms of price. Some of them are once-in-a-lifetime splurges, others are reliable penny-savers. In all cases, these are hotels I gladly return to myself and happily recommend to friends. They aren't necessarily perfect, but of their type, I think they're the best.

Let me know if you disagree - and when I'm missing something good! I'll be continuing to add hotels over the coming months, including more top-quality fresh openings, so check back in when you get the chance to see what's new.

* Simonseeks has given star ratings out of five for all accommodation
recommendations. With hotels, these will tally with the hotel's official star rating where
it exists. Where a hotel has no official star rating, and in the case of b & bs and hostels,
the experts have made a judgment as to how many stars the accommodation deserves, in terms
of comfort, level of facilities and so forth.

If you would like to suggest a hotel to the community that I haven't recommended, then click here.